The Bulgarian inspired home crowd with a tough victory
Grigor Dimitrov won his first ATP World Tour match in front his home crowd at Garanti Koza Sofia Open. In a interesting battle the local hero defeated Jerzy Janowicz 4:6, 6:3, 7:5.
Janowicz only needed a lone break of serve to capture the opening set, but the Bulgarian gradually found his footing as the contest wore on. Dimitrov grabbed the crucial break at 5-5 in the deciding set and comfortably closed out the match on serve in the next game to prevail in two hours and two minutes.
This was Dimitrov’s 11th victory since the start of the season. He won the title in Brisbane and reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open in January.
“This victory was yours. To play before the home crowd is absolutely great. I am very excited. Thank you all for coming today. I don’t exaggerate – this win is absolutely your effort. Thank you!”, said Grigor to his almost 10 000 fans in Arena Armeec.
“I had tremendous support and everything was amazing. I haven’t played at home in a long time, so I’m pumped for each match here and hope I can repeat this tomorrow”, he added.
Next he will face the Serb Viktor Troicki. “It is always hard to play first match of the tournament. You have to adjust to the conditions. Troicki? It is not going to be easier. We played so many times so I know what I can expect. Now I have to relax and to come back here tomorrow to do the same”, said Dimitrov.
